British actor Sacha Baron Cohen gives the thumbs up as he arrives for the United Kingdom premiere of his new film entitled 'Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit the Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan' in Leicester Square, London, on October 25. - Reuters

LOS ANGELES, (Reuters):

Borat, an acclaimed comedy revolving around a Jew-fearing journalist from Kazakhstan, stunned observers by opening at number one at the North American box office on Sunday with ticket sales of US$26.4 million.

The Twentieth Century Fox release, starring English comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, more than doubled the most optimistic forecasts of observers, who had expected the film to open somewhere in the top five, and well behind presumed new champ The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause.

Borat also opened at number one in both Britain and Germany, according to preliminary data supplied by the News Corporation owned studio.

The North American release took place in just 837 theatres after polling indicated that huge enthusiasm among critics and the MySpace crowd had not spread to mainstream moviegoers. In the end, it appeared that naked wrestling, toilet jokes and anti-Semitic satire hold universal appeal.

Meanwhile, Walt Disney Co.'s Santa Clause 3, opening in 3,458 theatres, was number two with US$20 million for the three days beginning Friday, down from the US$29 million start for its 2002 predecessor. A company spokesman said the studio was thrilled with the opening given the competition in the family-movie genre.

New at number three was Flushed Away, the ninth animal cartoon of the year, which did better than expectations. The tale of a mouse flushed into the sewer earned US$19.1 million.

Observers had expected the new effort to open in the same US$16 million range as DreamWorks/ Aardman's previous venture, Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, which ended up with just US$56 million last year. Flushed Away was released domestically by Viacom Inc.'s Paramount Pictures.

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